Pocketful of Borders: Humpty Dumpty

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Here’s a shot of my work table (ironing board) with a border in progress. It shows the illustration from Pocketful of Posies that includes “Humpty Dumpty”, “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers” and “Two little dicky birds sitting on a wall”.

There’s lots of foliage and a stone wall build with a combination of stone beads and individually appliqued felt stones. Peter Piper’s hat and basket of peppers are made with thread wrapped and coiled wire.

I had fun using some interesting pieces of driftwood and other found objects.

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: my black hen

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This illustration from Pocketful of Posies is for the rhyme, Hickety, pickety, my black hen, she lays eggs for gentlemen. My descriptions will be brief, as I’m working hard to finish all of the borders for the upcoming traveling show. The colors vary in this series of photos becuase I took them at different times of day, under different lighting conditions. The color green is famously difficult to reproduce anyways. Here’s the fabric relief piece sewn to foam core board, before a border was attached. Yes, I made the egg basket, by wrapping and coiling wire around and around. Pretty obsessive, but necessary!

The arched hen-house is made with bittersweet vine, with driftwood floor boards.

The border need a little punch, so I sewed some purple perle cotton around the outside edges.

The embroidered leaves could also be seen as feathers.

The hen’s nest is made from some curly excelsior packing material and her feathers are highlighted with purple metallic thread.

This coloring is more true to the original piece.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: Donkey & Elsie Marley

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’m making good progress on the borders for the Pocketful of Posies Exhibit and thought I’d show one from earlier this summer. This double page spread illustrates the nursery rhymes “Donkey, donkey, old and gray…” and “Elsie Marley has grown so fine, she won’t get up to feed the swine…”.

UPDATE: Autographed copies of Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes are available in my Etsy Shop here.

The hungry swine were fun to make! The stones on the path were made with chain stitches in a tight spiral.

See a detail shot of the driftwood roofs and tree in an earlier post here.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

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Closeups (summer trees)

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Before summer passes us by, I’ve gathered a group of trees from my artwork to show. The first one is a crayon drawing on lined paper from 1963, when I was 8 years old.

crayon on lined paper, 1963, age 8

Jumping ahead 20 years, this tree is from an early fabric relief picture called “Jumping Girl”. My obsession with embroidering leaves was underway!

detail from “Jumping Girl” 1985

This is from my first children’s book, The Way Home, published in 1991. By this time, I’d started making branches with thread wrapped wire. Read the story of the making of the book here.

detail from “The Way Home” 1991

Here’s a faux tile I made for my kitchen in 1990. See the other tiles in an earlier post here.

Faux Tile, 1990

About 10 years ago, I started using more felt and appliqued this tree trunk to the dyed cotton velveteen sky in my book, The Hollyhock Wall.

detail from “The Hollyhock Wall ” 1999

Now, I’m using felt almost exclusively. The next 2 details of trees are from my picture book, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes.

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

I incorporated many found objects in the “Posies” book and here’s a glimpse of driftwood and bark buildings, with a tree between.

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Pocketful of Borders: Ring around the Rosie

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Salley Mavor

The one woman border stitching factory is running double shifts to get the illustrations finished and framed in time for my Pocketful of Posies traveling exhibit, which you can read about here. This one is from the page for the rhyme “Ring around the rosie”. The border turned out to be much more involved than I planned and took several days to complete. From now on, I can’t afford to play around, trying out different approaches for each piece. It’s time to get serious. My goal is to complete one a day, so I’ll have all 51 ready by mid Sept., when we hang the show.

I picked out some upholstery fabric for the background and then chose the felt border colors.

I like to lay out different skeins of pima cotton from the Caron Collection next to the artwork and pick a color scheme that matches.

Then I edge the border pieces with a blanket stitch.

There’s a lot of open green space around the dancing figures in this illustration, so I thought that the border could take some embellishment. I did a little sketch of some leafy curled stems and embroidered them.

One thing led to the next and before I knew it, I was filling the leaves with orange floss and scattering french knots around like confetti.

When I put the finished border piece next to the artwork, it looked too busy and the many colors detracted from the circle of characters. It was clear to me that the first try didn’t look right and instead of wasting time trying to make it work, I quickly moved on. I put it aside and decided to make another design that was still embellished, but was limited to green chain stitching.

They were true doodles, done free hand, with every border section different. That way, I don’t have to plan it out and repeat exactly the same design for all 4 side pieces. Also, without a set pattern, the border more accurately reflects the lighthearted and uninhibited mood of the characters.

I then embroidered the date and my initials on the bottom corner pieces.

And continued doodling…

After sewing the side and corner pieces together to make a square border, I thought that it needed a little lift off the surface, so I added some wire around the outside edge.

Later, after I’d sewn the wire all around, I realized that I should cut and adjust the wire to conform to the curves of the corner pieces.

I then covered the wire by wrapping it with variegated embroidery floss.

And to help define the form, I slipped some wire through the stitches on the backside of the inside edge, like a underwire bra.

Now, I sewed the whole wire supported border to the artwork and bent waves into the outside scalloped edge.

I’m half way through making the borders, with about 25 to go! I’ll try to remember to pause and take pictures as I go, but know some steps won’t be documented because I’m so intent on finishing this project.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Pocketful of Borders: Jack and Jill

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Salley Mavor

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

I’ve just finished adding a border to the double page illustration for Jack and Jill, which is part of my upcoming book, Pocketful of Posies. For those of you who are new to this blog, I am preparing 51 illustrations for framing, so that they can be displayed in a traveling show.

The artwork was previously mounted on foam core board for photography purposes. Now, it will be dressed up and given a new border and background. I stretched upholstery fabric and picked out felt colors that complimented and contrasted with the blue and green scene.

I looked through my basket of Watercolour pima cotton threads from the Caron Collection.

And used bright blue and variegated light pastel thread for the blanket stitch edging along the felt border pieces.

I then chain stitched my initials and the date on the bottom corner pieces with variegated embroidery floss. I’m enjoying the mindless doodling of the chain stitching.

The outside blanket stitch and the embroidery floss curls pick up colors from the illustration.

Then the border pieces are sewn to the inside artwork and onto the stretched back ground.

Now, it is ready for framing!

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Close-ups (shells)

Posted on July 31, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This is a series of shell images, starting with a fabric scallop pin, which I made in the late 70’s. See the story about my pins in earlier posts here.

The scale and natural delicacy of shells make them suitable props for my little dolls. Here’s a 2″ mermaid photographed on the beach.

This is an appliqued felt purse from the 90’s, which is like the ones featured in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects.

Shells make good sleeping places, too. This is a detail from an illustration in Wee Willie Winkie, from the page which reads, “Are the children in their beds?”.

Here is a detail from “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?”, which is included in my picture book, Pocketful of Posies; A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes.

This is from “the old woman stands at the tub, tub, tub” verse, which is also in Pocketful of Posies. Her washing tub is made from a “boat” shell that is commonly found on our local beaches.

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Pocketful of Borders: In spring

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Salley Mavor

detail from "In Spring" Pocketful of Posies 2010

The pressure is mounting to get these borders finished by September for the Pocketful of Posies show. I’ve completed four in the past week, including this one of a seasons rhyme, which begins “In spring I look gay decked in comely array”.

It took several tries to get the background fabric and border colors right. I can’t explain why one shade or pattern works better, but it helps to compare and narrow it down until you’re satisfied.

I chose a bright red floss for my initials and the date embroidery on the bottom corners. The photo doesn’t show the subtle variegation in the red thread. I have my eye out for variegated thread to purchase and find myself reaching for it first. It adds a complexity that mirrors nature better than solid colors.

I had just finished writing the post about lettering and was inspired to add some words to this one. So, instead of doodling along the border, I wrote out the names of the seasons on the four side sections.

Sometimes I write on the felt with a pencil and then embroider over it, but it can show through and look messy. For the seasons, I wrote out the words on a piece of paper to get the spacing and then eye balled the stitching.

I made sure there were some doodles in the corners and sewed it all together.

This piece is relatively shallow compared to the other illustrations from the book. To get an idea of scale, the birds are under 1 inch long.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Close-ups (gardens)

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Salley Mavor

How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Here are a couple of pieces that I made in 1982, when I was transitioning from 3d sculptural work to flatter, framed pieces. I started using the term “fabric relief” about then because people kept asking what they were called. It’s still hard to explain what I do at cocktail parties!

The water coming out of the hose is metallic thread. The figures playing croquet are very early “wee folk” with cloth heads instead of the painted wooden ones I use now.

This is a detail from the strawberry garden scene in a illustration from Mary Had a Little Lamb. The stones were glued onto the velveteen background fabric.

Here’s another Mary character in her garden, this one from The Hollyhock Wall. Her hair is wool fleece and the background is embroidery on dyed velveteen.

“Eleven, Twelve, dig and delve”. This illustration is part of a rhyme in Pocketful of Posies. The straw hat is made with thread wrapped wire and the spade blade is a heart charm.

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Pocketful of borders (Queen of hearts)

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Salley Mavor

detail from "Queen of Hearts" from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

I’ve been continuously working on the illustrations from Pocketful of Posies, getting them ready for framing. The traveling show of original fabric relief artwork will be launched in mid-Sept. and my husband just began making the wooden shadow box frames. Here’s a series of pictures of the “Queen of Hearts” rhyme, showing the process of adding an additional felt and metallic braid border and mounting it on red upholstery fabric.